Manchester United forward Martial was a transfer target for Tottenham in the summer, at a time where his Red Devils future was in doubt.Jose Mourinho, it seemed, wanted him gone. The 55-year-old was supposedly ready to offload the France international in order to bring in one of Inter Milan’s Ivan Perisic or Chelsea’s Willian.
However, Martial stayed. And the Manchester Evening News have now revealed how that situation came about. The striker, after two years of inconsistency, is beginning to deliver.
Martial scored twice as United’s drew 2-2 with Chelsea on Saturday afternoon. That brace came just days after he had got on the scoresheet in the rousing 3-2 victory over Newcastle.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy supposedly called United, enquiring about the availability of the 22-year-old.
But the MEN say Woodward issued a defiant response, insisting he was not for sale.It is claimed he told Spurs that United have a player with the potential to become one of the best footballers on the planet.
Eyebrows were raised when the Red Devils forked out £36million to sign Martial from Monaco in 2015.
That fee could even rise to £58m should the Frenchman scoop the prestigious Ballon d’Or award.And Woodward reportedly told Tottenham that he believes Martial can scale those lofty heights.
Meanwhile, Mourinho was full of praise for the United star following his Chelsea heroics.
“Anthony Martial is improving, he is doing different things than before,” the Portuguese said.
“He is a more complete player than before but he needs to improve.
“He has a huge talent and he wants it, which is a good thing. The team as a team was really good.
“A fantastic match, a very undeserved result for us but that is football.
“We were the best team, even in the first half when we were losing. We were in control, tactically. The result is really unfair for us.”